Page 106 of Bound By Stars

Curran reaches around me and pounds the keyboard until he finds the feed info. “A hall between the arboretum and the library. Like they said. All first-class passengers. The Paradis ambassador. Ms. Lovell. And there’s Meridian and Hale.”

A squealing noise fills the bridge, so loud and horrible that it sends a prickling cold over my skin. It sounds like tearing metal. Another screen goes black.

I strain my eyes, searching the chaos for my parents, but there are too many bodies. “We have to get them out.”

Weslie laces her fingers between mine.

Asha falls into an anchored chair, burying her face in her hands again.

Squeezing my hand reassuringly, Weslie releases me and runs back across the room. The orange glow of the holomap lines her face. “Emergency doors have them shut in on three sides. The only way they can go is back up to the living quarters, but most of that level is offline. Even the main stairway is closed off. Back stairwells aren’t an option, either. Maybe the elevators?”

Skye runs down the center stairs to one of the workstations. “Everything is in emergency mode, so the elevators are shut down. What about ILSA? Can she override the system or something?”

Weslie shakes her head. “Without access codes, there’s not much she can do within the ship’s system.”

The ship rattles under our feet again, jerking like it ran into a moon.

I grab hold of the surveillance desk, anchoring myself and catching Curran before he falls.

Asha’s knocked onto the floor by my feet.

“Is everyone okay?” I yell.

Weslie is on her knees next to the holomap table and raises a thumb in the air as she pulls herself off the floor.

“I’m good.” Skye gets to her feet on the stairs, rubs her left shoulder, and climbs back up to meet us.

Weslie sucks in a breath. “No.”

A huge portion of the map flashes red.

“What now?” Curran asks.

“Another part of the top level is gone.”

Turning back, I search the surveillance feeds. Another emergency door slides into place at the back of the corridor. Part of the corralled crowd tries to escape before they’re shut in on all sides. More feeds are cut. “What does that mean, ‘offline?’”

“The oxygen and heating in that area has already shut off. When a wing is damaged, the resources are reserved for the operational parts of the ship,” Tar says, serious and soft.

This was the plan. Exits systematically closed off to corral them all into a dead end. Then what? Let the ship go down with all its first-class passengers, the leaders, company heads, politicians, and heirs trapped inside.

I shake my head, watching a woman pull her toddler under just as the emergency door to the living quarters closes. No clue that she just killed them both.

“I can’t believe he did this. My dad trapped them on purpose.” Tar slumps into the seat, holding his head.

Asha’s voice, usually as bright and cheery as her pink hair, is subdued and shaky. “Skye, aren’t those your parents?”

Skye leans close to the image on the screen, but I can see from here. It’s them. Simone and Harold Dupont’s terrified faces in a sea of chaos.

Are my parents lost in the crowd, too, or did they make it out?

I wrap an arm around her shoulder. “We’ll figure something out.”

“There! A fire outside the emergency door. That’s probably why it closed.” Skye shrugs me off and runs for the exit.

“Where are you going?” Weslie calls after her.

“If I can put the fire out, maybe we can get it open!” Skye shouts as she turns into the hallway.

---